Gaming Bullets

It is now confirmed that the upcoming 'Bridge Commander' will have a multiplayer option. GameSpot has posted a report on the developments, including a Q&A with lead designer Gary Holland. "Balance becomes an issue in multiplayer in a way not seen in the single-player game," Holland said. "For the single player, it has to be fun for that one player--that means creating things to be skewed in his or her favor. For multiplayer, you have to make it fun for everyone. In the design of games like Quake, every person is weighted the same. But for Star Trek, we can't have a Klingon Bird of Prey be as powerful as a Federation Sovereign-class ship. So we have to take balance into consideration and weight things by scoring." The full article can be found here.

Armada Universe has posted an interview with Michael Swiderek, one of the artists currently working on 'Star Trek: Armada II.' "I've found the Cardassians very interesting to work on, specifically, because, although there is a prescribed aesthetic, there are very few actual canon designs," he said. "That library was further impacted by the fact that we don't have access to the DS9 license, so it was an interesting challenge to try to emulate elements that made the DS9 design really cool, yet make stations that are divergent enough from the design of DS9 that it would be acceptable." Head over here for the full interview.

The 'Elite Force' Expansion Pack has been reviewed at PC Gameplay UK. Here's a quote from the review:

This has the patchy feel that afflicts so many expansion packs. The multiplayer additions are a mixed bag, and should probably be available free on the Internet anyway, and the new one-player walkabout is little more than a novelty. Only Trekkie completists need apply.

Adrenaline Vault has reviewed the recently released 'Star Trek: Dominion Wars.' Awarding it a score of 3/5, reviewer Bob Mandel wrote that "the graphics, music and sound in Dominion Wars are excellent, but the rest of the game does not live up to expectations. Aside from the bugginess of the release, the gameplay is too constrained and awkwardly executed for action fans, and the tactical choices are too limited for real-time strategy fans. This is a tragedy, for all the elements are here necessary for a really engrossing release." Head over to the Adrenaline Vault to read more.

Activision's RTS release, 'Star Trek: Away Team,' has been reviewed by GameStats. Here's an extract from the review:

Gripes of lack of control over the plot, game development and team deployment aside, the actual gameplay of ST:AT isn't that great. Let's start with movement and attacking. My main gripe is that none of it is intuitive. While playing a game like Starcraft it's fairly easy to get your soldiers to attack the bad guys, move around etc. In Star Trek: Away Team it's a mini-game in itself.

A review of the new standalone Starfleet Command game, 'Orion Pirates,' has been posted at Gone Gold. Reviewer Zachary W. Nobles said that "if you are a fan of Star Fleet Command, this title is a "must have," since the multiplayer Dynaverse portion of the game is what the entire SFC community is moving towards, and since support for the third title, SFC: Empires at War, is expected to fall off after the next patch. For the new gamer interested in this kind of strategy title, I highly recommend it, with the caveat that you may encounter some minor problems." He awarded 'Orion Pirates' 82% in the full review, which can be found here.